The Saudi denial shook the government and the establishment: Mian Zahid Hussain - Press Release issued by Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum.

Karachi -- January 27, 2023 (PPI-OT)

Following is the text of press release issued by Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF)

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Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said over the last several decades there has hardly been a finance minister who after lashing out against the IMF hasn't agreed to their conditions.

Statements against the IMF do not harm this institution, but we have to face the music therefore this practice should be stopped, he said. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the cost of the delay in the implementation of the program is paid by the country and the people.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that all finance ministers always claim to run the country without the support of any lender which results in an economic collapse. Borrowing from IMFs is delayed as a routine and once the loan is granted, the program is not implemented, which increases mistrust, he added. He said that we should know the fact that the IMF does not ask any country for lending, rather it is the countries in trouble that beg for loans.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Saudi Arabia has also done a favour to Pakistan by advising it to make reforms instead of getting more loans, which made the government realize the seriousness of the...